neilinmich wrote:
I didn't know how to select a gift for someone. I still don't. Now I think it has something to do with my ASD. It's an interpersonal thing that I can't get a grip on. I know I'll always fail to do it right and I dread the moment when they'll open the gift and pretend to like it.
I remember when I first started work, feeling that I had to give Xmas cards to everybody there. It was overwhelming and quite scary, trying to make a list of everybody (there were a lot of people there). In the end I figured out a cunning plan - I'd sign a few cards without putting any of my workmates' names on them, take them to work, and then if somebody gave me a card I'd quietly go off and write their name on the envelope of one of those pre-signed cards and give them that. If they didn't give me a card, I figured it was OK for me not to give them one. The method reduced the work and over the years I had fewer and fewer people to give cards to. Later I took the bolder step of just not doing Xmas cards at all.